"Sweet Child o' Mine" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses. It appeared on their debut album Appetite for Destruction. The song was released in August 1988 as the album's third single, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's only number 1 US single. Billboard ranked it the number 5 song of 1988. Re-released in 1989, it reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart.
The "Sweet Child o' Mine" video depicts the band rehearsing in the Mendiola's Ballroom at Huntington Park, surrounded by crew members. All of the band members' girlfriends at the time were shown in the clip: Rose's girlfriend Erin Everly, whose father is Don Everly of The Everly Brothers; McKagan's girlfriend Mandy Brix, from the all-female rock band the Lame Flames; Stradlin's girlfriend Angela Nicoletti; Adler's girlfriend Cheryl Swiderski; and Slash's girlfriend Sally McLaughlin. Stradlin's dog was also featured. The video was successful on MTV, and helped launch the song to success on mainstream radio.
To make "Sweet Child o' Mine" more marketable to MTV and radio stations, the song was edited down from 5:56 to 4:13, for the radio edit/remix, with much of Slash's guitar solo removed. This drew the ire of the band, including Rose, who commented on it in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone: "I hate the edit of 'Sweet Child O' Mine.' Radio stations said, 'Well, your vocals aren't cut.' My favorite part of the song is Slash's slow solo; it's the heaviest part for me. There's no reason for it to be missing except to create more space for commercials, so the radio-station owners can get more advertising dollars. When you get the chopped version of 'Paradise City' or half of 'Sweet Child' and 'Patience' cut, you're getting screwed."
Lyrics
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
It takes me away to that special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I'd hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain
To quietly pass me by
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Sweet child o' mine
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now, now, now, now, now, now, now now?
Sweet child, sweet child o' mine